ReWrite: Ironman
by peanut0565
Summary: One slight alteration yields a completely different outcome
1. Chapter 1

**Authors' Note: ** I wish I owned 'em. But sadly no, I'm not THAT innovative... I simply admire... Anywho, AU-ish.

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"Stay Put!" It was a simple order. Really, even a dog could follow such a simple order. This entire situation could technically blamed on him, all his fault. He didn't head to the warnings; He said his weapons needed to be tested in the environment that they'd actually be used in. Why he, himself, himself had to come? Showmenship, and the fact that Obadiah was breathing down his neck. Though James hadn't known that til AFTER the fact.

"TONY!" He called, returning to the humvee that he left his unarmed friend in. The humvee was riddled with holes, from killing the poor officers set to drive him back to the base. James had came running after the first explosion had taken out the humvee in front. As he was approaching, the gun fire immediatly started and took out everyone within the second humvee except for Tony. He reached the window to find the billionaire genius staring in awe at the carnage, there was raw fear in his eyes. Something James had never seen in his friend's eyes before.

He told Tony to stay put while he handle the situation, stay put until he returns. Rhodes had gone into the mist, firing at the returning fire while trying to maintain perimeter to keep Tony safe. That was the mission right now, the man was infact a major asset to the United States government in general.

He and the few remaining soldiers had been holding things down for a few seconds, until another explosion happened from where he had just left. He turned around and made a mad dash back to the humvee where Tony was. Or at least where he thought Tony was.

Of course, Tony didn't follow the damn order. He never listened, and it was going to get him killed. Rhodes began searching around furiously, trying to figure out where he went. He was no where within the humvee, that was certain. Rhodes then began to search the surrounding area, firing a few rounds here and there to keep the unknown enemy at bay.

"Tony!" He yelled as he rounded the humvee and spotted the person he was looking for on the ground. He wasn't that hard to spot, being the only one there wearing an armani business suit. It stood out against the desert. Rhodes made a mad dash towards the man, crashing to his knees beside Tony.

"Fuck me..." The colonel swore, something he NEVER did, as he looked down at his friend. A thin coat of dust layered the man before him, his eyes were wide open in shock, there was a few cuts across his face, but worse of all was when he looked over the rest of his body. Rhodes found a flowering blood spot right in the middle of the white dress shirt Tony had been wearing. It was partially opened in the middle, where his heart is, and found the armor that he had been wearing was pierced, badly.

For a moment he was captivated merely by the sight of the wound, but after that moment he returned to battle mode. He rose his gun up into firing range and stood guard. There were still bullets flying, and dust clouding everything, but most of it seemed on the other side of the trashed humvee.

He felt a tug on his pants leg and glanced down. Tony was staring right at him, his right hand had a tight grip on the fabric of Rhodes' pants. Pure fear and agony conved in his eyes, as it looked like he was struggling to breathe.

"Hold on." That was all he was able to make before remembering once more that there was a battle going on still. "Its' gonna be alright. Just stay awake Tony." He said, training his eyesight away again from his dying friend and focused on keeping anyone else from finishing the job. It was all he could do at the moment with all considering. If he tried to stop the bleeding, he and Tony would both be dead.

An eternity passed before there was nothing but silence. The adrenaline James had pumping through his veins had died down slightly, and fatigue began to set in ten-fold. He lowered his rifle with a sigh and glanced down.

Tony was still gripping his pants leg like it was a lifeline. The color from his face faded though, but his eyes were open still, even if it was only half way. His once white shirt was now completely red, and there was a small pool beneath him, leaking out onto where James' was sitting as well.

"Tony?" His glazed over stare shifted slowly over to Rhodes. James finally thought it was safe enough to set down his rifle and then straddle one knee over Tony's waist, he was now sitting on his knees with Tony underneath him. He then began carefully to remove the suit jacket, and work on the dress shirt. In no time his hands were covered in the red sticky liquid that was Tony's blood. There was so much. Too much.

"Stay with me now, It won't be much longer." Rhodes was talking more to reassure himself then Tony, who seemed for the most part out of it completely. One of the soldiers appeared at his side then.

"Colonel, theres no one left. Everyone's dead." The quivering voice said, trying to sound calm, but their facade was transparent. "Just stand guard til the back up arrives." Rhodes grounded out as he lifted the body armor off of Tony and gasped.

"Request ETA on back-up." Rhodes said immediatly as he saw the pool of blood which was Tony's chest. The center of the wound seemed to be at the center of his chest just where his heart was. It looked almost like a spiral design of punctures, both deep and artifical, but all filled with metal shrapnel.

"I can see them now, they have two humvees." The soldier said eagerly, relieved to see his fellow soldiers coming to their rescue. Rhodes sighed in relief, until he heard a single gunshot. He glanced up just in time to see the one survivor other then him and Tony fall dead at his feet.

James immediately reached for his rifle, but before he could he felt a blunt object being shoved roughly into the back of his neck, and then everything went black.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

His eyes popped open wide; He sat up immediatly. The second he was up he regretted moving so fast as the dark room spun on him, and he had a splitting headache. His right hand almost instinctually rose to the sore spot on the back of his neck, rubbing it.

"You have a concussion." A voice said after a moment, the spinning stopped thankfully. He then got a chance to look around his area. It was a very dimly lite room. He was on a stiff cot, and..._Tony!_ He looked around almost frantically for his friend, only finding an elder bald man sitting infront of him on a barrel, working on something the desk.

"You're friend will be back eventually." He said calmly. James trained his eyes on the man suspiciously.

"Where is he?" He grounded out, an edge in his voice clearly said _'Don't fuck with me.'_

"They took him to a different room, but when they bring him back. I need your help." He said.

"With what?" He asked dumbly.

"Your friend is injuried gravely, I need to surgically implant this into his chest, and I need someone to hold him still." He stated plainly. Rhodes stood up and moved over to him to see the metal thing he was working on on the table.

"What is that?" He asked, not being able to imagine someone implanting that hunk of metal into someone's chest, let alone Tonys'.

"This is an electromagnet, It is to keep the shrapnel from piercing his heart." The older man seemed to know what he was talking about.

James was about to inquire further but there was an adrupt interuption. He turned at the noise and saw the large metal door had a metal slide in it. A different voice spoke in a foreign language. The elder man immediatly rose to his feet and put his hands above his head.

"Do as I do." He said quickly as the door started to open. James glanced over to the man confused, but by the time he saw the other man at the door enter with a gun in hand, he immediatly rose his hands up to his head.

The one with the gun then approached Rhodes, standing next to him as two others appeared, another was in their arms. It took James a moment to realize that the one in their arms was Tony, he was unconcious as they brought him in and unceremoniously dropped him on the hard table where the elder man was just working. They looked directly to the elder and growled something in the same foreign language, or a different one maybe? Rhodes didn't know.

After that they left as adruptly as they entered, leaving James bewildered at the whole interaction. This was quickly set aside though when his eyes went back to the prone figure on the metal table. The bald man rushed over to him, pulling out a tray of rusting tools and the implant out.

"Come now, We need to work quickly." He said, looking directly at James through the circular lenses. James stumbled over, gawking slightly at the bandages covering Tony's chest, they were red, and he seemed to have a wool jacket on him.

"First we need to get this jacket off of him." The elder instructed. James followed orders quietly, his anger about the entire situation hitting a critical mass as soon as he saw what needed to be done. The jacket was removed with the same care as he had done so the first time, and he held Tony up while the man unwrapped the soiled bandages to reveal the ugly wound again. Tony was unconcious through this entire time.

"Here." He said handing James the end piece of a twoel, then laid it over the top of Tony's shoulders and then gestured for him to take the other end. "When he wakes up, you must keep him on the table." He said.

"Don't you have something to put him out cold?" James asked. The elder shook his head then began the strenous process of picking out as much of the shrapnel he could from the wound. By the third piece Tony awoke, and began to struggle.

"Tony, you gotta stay still, its only going to hurt more." James had his head right next to Tony's, talking into his ear, as he held his friend tightly down with the towel. Tony only screamed in agony in return, completely oblivious to James.

After what seemed like an eternity the elder man placed a cloth over Tonys' mouth, and he passed out immediatly. James was covered in sweat, and more tired then he had ever felt before, even in all the years at MIT and the Air Force, couldn't even measure up to this fatigue.

"Why didn't you do that before?!" He growled, glaring at the man, who seemed far to calm after the entire scenario.

"I only had one, and I couldn't risk him waking up to soon after the surgery..." He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. James sighed with a measured breath, and glanced down at the implant now sticking in Tony's chest, not yet covered with bandages again. He felt his knees finally cave in then, as he slumped down, resting his chin on the metal table, now level with Tony's head.

"You should sleep, It will be awhile before he wakes up." The elder said. "There's a cot over there." He pointed out to the cot that James had woken up on. James sighed, and with a huff he stood up and slowly made his way over to the cot. He laid down on it, but there was no way on this planet that he would actually be able to sleep, not at least until Tony woke up again. If he woke up again.

TBC


End file.
